The problem of hospitalization itself soon became of paramount importance. It was initially recognized that, in spite of the meagre governmental hospital facilities then available for the care of beneficiaries of the United States Veterans’ Bureau, it was essential for the best administrative control of veteran patients and for the best professional control over their treatment to place the beneficiaries of the United States Veterans’ Bureau under government supervision in government owned or operated institutions. The carrying out of this policy has been proceeding steadily at a rate commensurate with the rate at which additional government hospital beds have been made available. At no time however has it been possible to discontinue the use to a considerable degree of contract civil institutions. Even at the present time the United States Veterans’ Bureau is utilizing approximately 757 civil institutions for the care of approximately 8,924 of its beneficiaries, and has contracts with a total of 1,524 civil institutions for such care. It is however significant to note while in July 1920 more than fifty percent of Veterans’ Bureau patients were in contract hospitals, on January 1, 1922, but 30 percent of patients were in contract hospitals. Furthermore the number of hospitals being utilized at any time had dropped from approximately 1200 to 757. The curtailment in the use of private facilities was of course the direct result of increased facilities in government operated hospitals. The United States Government had originally stipulated that the hospitalization of veterans of the World War should be provided for the United States Public Health Service through its Marine hospitals and such other hospitals as it had been authorized to acquire. When however it was discovered that the immediate facilities offered by these hospitals were insufficient to meet the demand for hospitalization, the hospital services of the United states Army, the United States Navy and the National Homes for Volunteer Disabled Soldiers were to a certain extent made available to the United States Veterans’ Bureau.